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LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Paul Stanley, a singer and guitarist with rock band Kiss, was forced to pull out of a show in California on Friday after his heart started beating at more than twice the normal level, he said on his Web site.

The apparent tachycardia happened while the band was rehearsing for a performance at a casino in San Jacinto, California, about 90 miles (145 km) east of Los Angeles.

"My heart spontaneously jumped to 190 plus beats per minute, where it stayed for over an hour necessitating paramedics to start an IV and give me a shot to momentarily stop my heart and get it into a normal pattern," Stanley, 55, wrote on his site www.paulstanley.com:.

A normal heart rate at rest is about 60 to 80 beats a minute, according to the American Heart Association.

Tachycardia, or rapid heart rate, can cause palpitations, shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting or near fainting, the group said on its Web site American Heart Association.

Stanley said he was advised performing would be risky, and the show went on without him. Fellow principal Gene Simmons told fans the group would play as a trio, and turned the show into a tribute to his ailing bandmate.

A call to Kiss manager Doc McGhee for an update on Stanley's condition was not immediately returned late on Saturday.

Stanley, born Stanley Eisen, and Simmons co-founded Kiss in New York City in 1973. Adored by fans, despised by critics, the group made a name for itself performing in white face make-up and ghoulish costumes.

Hits during its heyday included such anthems of teen rebellion as "Rock and Roll All Nite" and "Shout It Out Loud." Stanley released a solo album last year.

The 11-hour concert, held before a sell-out crowd of 28,000 at Toyota Park in the Windy City suburb of Bridgeview, showcased a broad breadth of styles, from still-potent rock gods such as Clapton and Jeff Beck to venerable bluesmen like B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Hubert Sumlin and young guns Derek Trucks, John Mayer and Robert Randolph. Mahavishnu Orchestra founder John McLaughlin brought electric fusion jazz to the party, while Vince Gill and Alison Krauss & Union Station made sure the Crossroads had twang, too.

Early arrivals checking out the Festival Village also heard Tab Benoit and his band backing Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Harvey Mandel and others on the Guitar Center/Ernie Ball stage. The proceedings were filmed in HD by director Martin Atkins, with a DVD slated for release on Nov. 6.

This year's Crossroads show was a one-day-only follow-up to 2004's weekend-long affair in Dallas. The goal was to raise money for Clapton's Crossroads Centre rehabilitation facility in Antigua, an effort all of Saturday's performers found it easy to get behind.

"It's all about helping somebody, and what a wonderful job this man has done," Guy said of Clapton. "If we had more people in this world like him, it would be a better place."

For guitar fans, Toyota Park was a fine place too -- especially during Clapton's 95-minute set. Starting off with a blast of Derek & the Dominos material -- including "Tell the Truth," a joyous rendition of "Got To Get Better in a Little While" and an epic take of "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad" -- Clapton and his band, which included Trucks, paid homage to the late George Harrison with his "Isn't It a Pity" and saluted Bo Diddley's recovery from a recent stroke with a version of his "Who Do You Love," one of two songs featuring the Band's Robbie Robertson.

The already outstanding set achieved further lift-off, however, when Steve Winwood, who Clapton said he'd been "waiting to play with for 25 years," joined the troupe to recreate the Blind Faith favorites "Presence of the Lord," "Can't Find My Way Home" and "Not My Cross To Bear" as well as Traffic's "Pearly Queen" and "Dear Mr. Fantasy" -- with Winwood playing blistering guitar solos on the latter. He remained on stage to help Clapton and company close their set with "Cocaine" and "Crossroads."

Clapton started the day with a guitar in his hands, completing emcee Bill Murray's comic attempt to play "Gloria" and introducing the first act, Louisiana guitar great Sonny Landreth. Clapton helped Landreth close his set with "Hell at Home" and spent most of the day at the side of the stage, talking to the other performers, hanging out with his wife and children and taking pictures. He later came joined Sheryl Crow, Albert Lee and Vince Gill's band for Danny Flower's "Tulsa Time."

The Gill set was also among the day's highlights, encompassing his own songs as well as appearances by Crow ("If it Makes You Happy" and "Strong Enough" with Krauss and Union Station's Jerry Douglas), the fast-picking Lee and Willie Nelson.

Robert Cray played a similar kind of host to Jimmie Vaughan, Sumlin and King, who offered a lengthy and emotional salute to Clapton before "The Thrill is Gone." Mayer, in turn, dedicated "every note I play today ... to Mr. B.B. King" and delivered aggressive versions of "Waiting on the World To Change," "Vultures" and Ray Charles' "I Don't Need No Doctor."

Beck and his quartet dazzled the Crossroads crowd with 50 minutes of instrumental work, including a recitation of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life." Trucks, meanwhile, welcomed wife Susan Tedeschi for Junior Wells' "Little By Little" and Derek & the Dominos' "Anyday" before bringing Johnny Winter on stage for a long romp through "Highway 61."

"(Winter) got here about a half-hour before we went on," Trucks said. "I met him in his Winnebego and said, 'You go, we'll follow.' He's such a frail guy, but he got up and shot for the moon."

Murray did a good job in helping to keep the show moving with quick one-liners (he referred to McLaughlin's early band as the Mahi Mahi Orchestra) and outfits -- complete with wigs and guitars -- that mimicked Clapton at different stages of his career.

The day's only miscue was the positioning of Guy's set after Clapton's, which meant the Chicago legend -- and the two-song all-star jam with Clapton, Mayer, Vaughan, Winter and Randolph that finished the show -- played to about a third of the crowd. It was their loss, perhaps, but it's doubtful anyone left the Crossroads fest feeling anything less than fulfilled.

Re: Miscellaneous Music News

This is big news up here.

Hilary Duff is dating New York Islanders Mike Comrie. He is our home-boy who started with the Oilers. Comrie and Duff have at least one thing in common: Both their fathers have retail backgrounds. Bill Comrie (multimillionaire) is founder of The Brick chain of furniture stores and Robert Duff is the owner of a chain of convenience stores.

Hockey fans boo Mike when he is in town playing. I don't know if this will last or not. Hilary really likes Canada and her 12 city tour starts soon.

For years a vacant lot in Memphis reflected cascades of music history.

That lot now houses the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and the Stax Music Academy, built in 2003.

For a time, however, after the original building was torn down in 1989, the spot was vacant and abandoned.

"It broke my heart to see that there was no symbol that represented what we were all about," says Al Bell, the former owner of Stax Records.

Now fresh symbols are growing. There's the museum, the academy, the revival of the label itself. There's also a dynamic special, under PBS's Great Performances banner.

Labels caused change

Stax was one of two black-run labels that transformed popular music.

In the North was Detroit and Motown with a fairly sweet, slick sound. In the South was Memphis and Stax.

"It's a trend in Memphis, actually, to go for the overall feel over the perfect recording," says Robert Gordon, a music author who directed the PBS film.

This was the music that Stax founder Jim Stewart savored.

"Jim had been a country fiddle player, and . . . he started finding out about something called rhythm and blues," Bell says. "And it took over his spirit and his heart and his soul."

In 1957, Stewart, a bank clerk, started the label as Satellite Records with his sister, Estelle Axton. (Eventually they squeezed their last names together to form "Stax.") They moved it into a South Memphis theater in 1960. They brought in blacks as managers, co-owners and, eventually, owner.

"He was really sort of like a helper, a handyman and carried the clothing. . . . Otis had stayed around all day long and had been bugging everybody for an opportunity to be heard.

"And Jim Stewart says, 'OK, you know, we gotta listen to this guy.' . . . When Otis started singing, 'These Arms of Mine,' the rest is history."

Then there was Hayes, who had moved to Memphis as a teenager. He played with bands, became the keyboardist for the Stax house band then was teamed with David Porter to write.

They wrote more than 200 songs, including the classic "Soul Man," plus "B-A-B-Y" and "Hold On I'm Coming." Deanie Parker — once a Stax performer, now president of the Soulsville Foundation — says Hayes, Porter, Booker T. & the MGs and especially Redding molded the Stax sound.

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Lee Hazlewood passed away on Saturday after a long battle with kidney cancer. He was 78. I'm a huge fan of his duets with Nancy Sinatra. Even though I knew he was sick, I feel deeply saddened by his death. Rest in peace, Lee.

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Hopefully this tour won't get put on hold again. I hope they come back to NC... I'm dying to see them again. Anyone who has not had the privilege of seeing Van Halen in concert, I strongly recommend seeing them. It's by far the best concert I have ever attended! I saw them with Sammy, but not Diamond Dave, so this is on my "must see" list. Be on the lookout for the tour schedule next week!

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Van Halen will announce a 50-date American reunion tour with original singer David Lee Roth during a news conference in Hollywood next week, sources said.

The arena trek will begin in early October.

Roth, who split from the rock group in the mid-1980s in hopes of solo stardom, will reunite with co-founders Eddie Van Halen on guitar and brother Alex Van Halen on drums. Eddie's teenage son Wolfgang will sub for Michael Anthony on bass.

A proposed summer amphitheater tour by the group never got off the ground, with Eddie Van Halen entering a rehabilitation facility for undisclosed reasons in March.

In the months since, the guitarist has been seen publicly looking healthy and fit.

Re: Miscellaneous Music News

Alison Krauss, Robert Plant to Release Duet CD
T Bone Burnett Produced the Sessions in Nashville and L.A.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss will release a duet album, Raising Sand, on Oct. 23. The Rounder Records CD was produced by T Bone Burnett and recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles.

Krauss said the genesis of the project came from her collaboration with Plant during a Leadbelly tribute at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where she and the former Led Zeppelin vocalist sang together for the first time. She has frequently expressed her admiration for several rock singers, including Plant.

Songs include the Robert Plant-Jimmy Page song, "Please Read the Letter," from Walking Into Clarksdale, the album the two Led Zeppelin members released in 1998. Also featured is "Fortune Teller," New Orleans R&B singer Benny Spellman's hit that was featured on the Rolling Stones' 1966 concert album, Got Live If You Want It.

Krauss' most recent CD, a career retrospective titled A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection, was released in April. With her Union Station band and Dobro player Jerry Douglas, she toured earlier this year with legendary acoustic guitarist Tony Rice. Her current tour continues along the East Coast before wrapping up with an Aug. 25 appearance at Nashville's Sommet Center.

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OMG...I am so thrilled to hear that this is back on! I've seen Diamond Dave and Sammy both with Van Halen....I've already told my 14 year old that I was going to take him to see Van Halen since Diamond Dave was the love of my life back in high school!